Apr 20, 2013 - Shopping in NC

Today was a shopping day for Sue. We drove up to Highlands, NC a small resort town (Pop. 900+ in winter and 10-15,000 during the vacation season) in far western North Carolina. It's at 4,100 ft above sea level. Highlands was founded in 1875 after its two founders drew lines from Chicago to Savannah and from New Orleans to New York on a map thinking that where these lines crossed would eventually become a great trading center and commercial crossroads. It didn't really happen. In the 1930's, the town became a golfing mecca when Bobby Jones...

Oct 18, 2010 - Bear Shadow

The weather has been beautiful here in the southeast for the last 2 weeks, Warm and sunny. The sky has been clear and blue. I stopped at a campground in Dillard, GA today to go to Whiteside Mountain near Highlands, NC (about 20 miles east of the campground) to see the "bear shadow". It forms between 5:30 and 6:00pm every day when the sun sets behind Whiteside Mountain. As luck would have it, the sky was overcast and not a shadow to be seen. I waited until about 4:30 or 5:00 before I gave up on the sun and headed back to the campground. I...

Oct 23, 2009 - Yesterday's drive and trip home today

October 23, Friday, Yesterday was laundry day, but later in the afternoon Don & I went for another drive and ended up down in a valley where we found a beautiful lake and later another part of the Appalachian trail where we met two hikers actually doing some serious hiking. One hiker, who was from Maine, does a section of the trail at a time, and he's been doing this for 20 years. Along the way we came upon a quaint tiny outdoor chapel in the woods with a tiny cemetery with several markers for babies and one person who lived to be 103 years...

Oct 21, 2009 - Day in Franklin and the Appalachian Trail

Wednesday, Oct. 21 A nice scenic walk around the Franklin down-town area was recommended to us, so we decided to take the trail. After passing the man-made falls, we aborted the walk and returned to our car. It was nothing compared to the many beautiful trails in the area. In fact I'm pretty sure it was just a paved walkway for joggers and bicyclists, but our dogs had a good time. We then decided to shop in some of the local Franklin craft stores. We were really impressed that most of the crafts were made by local artists and not in China....

Oct 20, 2009 - Blue Ridge Parkway

Tuesday, October 20, we headed out through Cherokee onto the Blue Ridge Parkway which is always a beautiful drive! We were somewhat disappointed in the lack of vibrant color, but there was still some beautiful fall foilage. In the higher elevations, the leaves had already dropped. Don also got to play in the snow! As we were getting ready to eat lunch at a high lookout, we enjoyed sharing a picnic table with a women and her mother and mother-in-law on a sight-seeing trip. It's really interesting meeting people from all over the United...

Oct 19, 2009 - Trip to Highlands, N.C.

Monday, Oct. 19 – After a very cold night, we awoke to a beautiful morning that was a promise of a very interesting day. We headed to the town of Highlands on a very curvy narrow highway, and even took a side road that required 4-wheel drive. It went up to an elevation of over 4,000 ft. and we passed several falls and deep gorges. Highlands reminded us of a miniature Nashville, IN with lots of shops, restaurants, and artist studios. We ate lunch on a bench in lots of sunshine which was topped off with a really good chocolate brownie! On the...

Jul 24, 2009 - To the High Lands of Highlands

We were off at 8:30 this morning, heading north through Atlanta and crossing into NC to get to Highlands in the toe of the state. The elevation is 4118 feet, and when I checked Weather Underground this morning, the temperature in Highlands was 58 degrees. Gotta love it. We are staying for five nights at Hidden Creek Highlands. We would never even have heard of the place if we had not been invited to stay by the owner and his wife, Johnny and Susan Valentine. We bumped into them at French Quarter RV on our last day in New Orleans, and they...